Jane Goodall, the groundbreaking primatologist whose work transformed how the world sees both animals and ourselves, passed away on October 2, 2025, at 91. For more than six decades, her courage and curiosity bridged the gap between species, revealing that empathy, intelligence, and even morality are not solely human traits.
Yet her focus extended far beyond chimpanzees. In her later years, she often held a mirror to humanity, reflecting aspects of our behavior that weren’t always flattering. One of her most discussed observations came in 2016 during the first presidential campaign of Donald Trump. Watching his rallies, Goodall noted parallels between his public persona and the behavior of dominant male chimpanzees in the wild.
“I understand that kind of display,” she explained. “The stamping, the shouting, the grandstanding — it’s what male chimpanzees do when competing for power. They make themselves appear bigger, louder, and stronger than they really are.”
Her words were not ridicule but scientific insight. At Gombe in Tanzania, where she began her studies in 1960, Goodall observed that alpha males asserted dominance through showmanship as much as strength. Success belonged not to the strongest but to the most strategic — those capable of inspiring, intimidating, and manipulating perception.
Even years later, she stood by her analogy. In a 2022 interview, watching clips of Trump hugging the American flag and calling himself “a perfect physical specimen,” Goodall remarked, “It reminds me of male chimpanzees who puff themselves up — shaking branches, dragging logs, making displays to appear larger and more important than they are. It’s all about dominance.”
Her strength was in viewing behavior with scientific detachment while retaining compassion. “The difference,” she added, “is that chimpanzees eventually calm down. Humans sometimes don’t.”
This distinction — our struggle to move past division — worried her more than any one politician. She frequently spoke about societal fractures and the paradox of human capability: the same species capable of incredible love and extraordinary cruelty.
Her reflections on Trump were never personal. They highlighted primal instincts still at work in politics: fear, competition, and the drive to belong, often at someone else’s expense. Yet she remained hopeful. “Chimpanzees fight for power,” she said. “Humans can choose to fight for peace. The problem is, we don’t always remember that choice is ours.”
